Ramayana(Ramayan) and sustainability

Jay Shree Ram (Hail great Ram). Today, I would like to write about the very interesting and fascinating epic Ramayan. We have a lot to learn from Lord Shree Ram and I mean it because the character of Shree Ram is in many ways suppressed under the influence of time and I feel we don't have enough intelligence to do so. But that's the beauty of his charisma that still we can learn from him. He is the prominent deity worshipped in India along with Lord Shree Krishna. Let us see how the blog today turns out.

Ramayan: The greatest love story of the greatest King on the earth to date. Shree Ram is the 7th incarnation of Narayan who is the preserver of the universe. And in this avatar, he is bounded by limited mystical powers. The reason is in his mind but I feel that he wanted to show how humans should excise a limited use of powers and do good to the earth. Even with limited powers, he fought battles with Ravan who had deity-like powers. How ironic the avatar of Lord Ram is. Despite knowing the powers of Ravan, he chose the way to defeat him in the most grounded and human approach. He is said to be the greatest man who ruled over the whole world. And despite being the greatest, he was humble and maintained his identity as a normal human being. He was silent but his actions and work spoke a lot more about his personality. I can write a whole new book on Shree Ram.

But I want to talk more about nature. Shree Ram spent a lot of his life in the struggle. He went to exile with his consort Devi Sita, and brother Lakshman. During his exile, he killed a lot of demons to protect the land of forests from exploitation. He lived in nature and protected a lot of kingdoms and communities from demons. This shows the shade of his compassion for nature. The whole episode of Shree Ram in exile is in forests. Numerous rivers are mentioned, and numerous mountains are also named during the journey and even during the rescue of Devi Sita from Lanka. The most important point to note is the co-existence of animals during exile and battle. Lord Ram was accompanied by a lot of Vanaras who were humanoid apes or can say monkeys during that time. Lord Hanuman was the most powerful Vanar among them and he helped Shree Ram in rescuing Devi Sita. This episode clearly shows how humans were accompanied by animals. Today animals are thought to be weaker species and we even mention it to verbally abuse others. But Ramayan shows that Shree Ram had immense respect for all those species meaning all have their own importance of existence. The mention of Drongiri mountain from the Himalayas, that Lord Hanuman lifted to Lanka as prescribed by the vaidya(physician) to save Lakshman from death. Nature and Ayurved are mentioned here. Nature has the cure for every disease. Today we have lost a lot of knowledge about Ayurved but even deadly injuries were cured by some herbs.

Jatayu, a vulture was also mentioned who fought with Ravan to protect Sita from being kidnapped but killed by Ravan. During an episode where he reached the shore of south India, he asked the mighty ocean to show him the way. But the ocean didn't show up. So he decided to dry the ocean up with the deadly weapon, and immediately the ocean appeared and explained that the living beings in the ocean could suffer if it was dried and hence the ocean cannot help him a pathway. Lord Ram agreed to this and later it was decided to construct a floating bridge that would not interfere with the ecosystem of the ocean and they will pass by from above. How beautifully the concept of sustainability is explained. They easily passed on the floating stones on the mighty ocean without a single organism or marine ecosystem disturbed. During the construction of the bridge, the squirrels helped in filling up the voids between big stones. Here is the importance of the existence of small living creatures. They have their own roles and are equally important. Later on, when Shree Ram conquered Ravan, the bridge was broken by Hanuman on the order of Shree Ram. A deeper meaning here is when Lord Shree Ram did not want the island of Sri Lanka to be accessible. The reason is a disturbance to the ocean lives as anyone can pass on the bridge and get to the middle of the ocean or Lanka and harm it. He wanted to make sure that all stays the same as it was in past without any negative consequences.

The whole of Ramayan is filled with such incidents. The point here is to relearn the concept of coexistence among humans, forests, and animals. Sustainable way of living life. Jay Shree Ram.